The new cultivar is a product of chance discovery. The new variety was discovered as a chance seedling emerging among a planting of various Acer palmatum var. dissectum trees. The inventor discovered this seedling in June of 2012 at a private garden in Eden Prairie, Minn.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘MONFRICK’ was first performed during 2013 at a commercial nursery in Dayton, Oreg. This was conducted by the conventional commercial practice of grafting semi-softwood cuttings of the new variety onto Acer palmatum seedling rootstock. Subsequent propagation has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and have been reproduced true to type for five successive generations. First public access to plants of the variety occurred during March of 2018 in the United States. This offer came directly or indirectly from the inventor, qualifying for the exception allowed under 102(b). Previous to this sale, although the variety may have been publicized in print, plants were not available to the public for propagation.